Picker stick



April 14, 1925. l 1,533,532

w. WILKINSON PICKER STICK Filed Jan. 18, 1925 INTENTOR Patented Apr. 14, 1925.

WALTER'-WILKINSON, OF PHLADELIHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

PICKER STICK.

Application filed January 18, 1923. Serial No. 613,378.

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, VALTER VILKiNsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in a. Picker Stick, of which the following is a specifica tion. l

My invention relates to new and useful improvements'in a picker stick, and has for its primary object to construct the major portion of such a stick of metal whereby the liability of breakage is greatly reduced and the life of the stick increased. n

Another object of the invention isto improve the construction of picker sticks in general and more specifically to employ a short wooden section for contact with the picker, such wooden section beingy remov able for the substitution of a new section and also reversible and invertible in order that different surfaces may be employed.

A further object of the invention is to provide an adjustable clamp to connect the connecting rod or sweep stick to the picker stick, such clamp being made of either cast of sheet metal. y

A still further object of the invention is to provide for adjustably connecting a check strap to the picker stick.

lll ith these ends in view, this invention consists in the details of construction and combination of elements hereinafter set forth and then specifically designated by the claims.

ln order that those skilled in the art to 'which this .invention appertaius, may under stand how to make and use the same, I will describe its construction in detail, referring by numerals to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this application, in which Fig. l, is aside elevation of'a picker stick embodying my improvements.

Fig. 2, is a similar view at right angles to Fig. l.

Fig. 3, is a longitudinal sectional view of Fig. 2.

F ig. 4, :is an enlarged end view of the picker stick and with the clamp removed.

Fig. 5, is an enlarged sectional plan view of one form of clamp.

Fig. G, is an enlarged plan view of another form of clamp.

Fig. 7, is an enlarged fragmentary side elevation of the picker stick illustrating one method of attaching the check strap there-- to.v Fig. 8, is a similar view at right angles tov Fig. 7 with a portion of the body broken away and shown in section.4

In carrying out my invention here e1nbodied, 2 -represents the metal-body of the picker stick, the central major portion 3 of which is circular in cross section while at each end are formed the sockets -land 5 rectangular in section and preferably of oblong shape, as plainly shown in Fig. il.

The socket l is adapted to receive either end of the short wooden section 6 having a plurality of equi-distant holesk 7, two of which are adapted to lie within the socket l when the wooden section 6 is in place and receive the screws 8 passing through one of the walls ofV said socket thereby preventing .the accidental displacement of the wooden section; and to prevent said wooden section from being driven too far Vinto the metal body, a stopelement 9 preferably on thc form of a rivet is mounted in the metal body just below the socket.

As one surface of the exposed end of the Cil short wooden section 6 becomes worn, due@ providing a long bearing surface on. the stud acts as `a stiffener to prevent the collapse of the socket 5. andthe lower edge of said filler serves as a bearing surface for the pull strap lila. Y y

Other aligned holes 13 are provided in the other walls of the socket 5 and with these registers another hole lll inthe filler 12, these last named holes being at Vright angles to the holes l0 and ll and are adapted to receive a suitable fastening' means such as a bolt for Vattaching a retracting spring and I the strap of the picker stick.

Adjacent the upper end of the tubular portion of the metal body is formed a button hole slot 15 for the reception of a bolt 40, the head of which is passed through the enlarged aperture at the end of the slot and then drawn against the inner surface of the metal body walls by the nut 41 having threaded engagement with the bolt on the outside of the picker stick body. Next the check strap 42 can be passed over the outer end of the bolt 4() and then another nut 43 threaded onto the bolt to hold the strap in place and as will be obvious by loosening the nuts and moving the bolt lengthwise of the slot 15 within the `limits of the restricted portion thereof for the adjustment of said strap on the picker stick.

On the tubular portion ot the metal body is also adjustably mounted a clamp 16 for connection of a sweep stick or connecting rod and may be formed from either cast or sheet metal, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the sheet metal clamp being designated by the numeral 1G and the cast metal one by the numeral 16.

The sheet metal clamp is bent or shaped to form the strap 17 having adjacent spaced ears 18 through which passes a bolt 19 having a nut 20 threaded thereon whereby the strap may be firmly clamped about the metal body of the picker stick in order to prevent any movement of the clamp on the picker stick a screw 21 is threaded through the strap and impinges on the picker stick. The strap is also provided with a lug 22Vwithin which the head o1c the screw 23 sets and this screw has a nut 24 thereon for connection with the sweep stick or its equivalent.

The cast metal clamp' shown in Fig. 5 consists of two sections 25 and 26 each having a semi-circular portion 27 for engagement with the tubular portion ot the metal body and outwardly ears 28. One ot these ears has a fulcrum lug 29 at its extreme outer end to bear against'the complementary ear whereby the'semi-circular sections may be drawn together by means ot a bolt 30 on which is mounted a nut 81. 'Ihe coacting ends of the semi-circular portions 27 each have a notch 32 to receive the head of a bolt 34 passing through a lug 35 carried by one ot the sections and this bolt has a nut 36 screwed thereon lor fastening the sweep stick or connecting rod.

'lhe ordinary wooden pickel' stick requires a number of holes intermediate its length for the adjustment of the sweep stick or lug strap thereby greatly weakening the stick at these points and because ot this weakened condition the picker stick often breaks in half and in addition will often split from the end having the stud hole therein and sometimes even splits from the upper end due to the wear caused by constant contact with the shuttle. Then the picker stick is damaged in any one of these places it requires that such stick be removed and replaced by a new one.

The construction of the picker stick in the manner shown and described above overcomes these disadvantages as the metallic body will be of suiicient strength to be practically unbreakable and should the short wooden section become damaged another short section may be substitute-d therefor without the use of skilled labor and where such damage is only undue wear to one of the surfaces of the wooden section it may be either reversed or inverted.

Of course I do not wish to be limited to the exact details of construction as herein shown as these may be varied within the limits of the appended claims without departing from thespirit ot my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and useful is z- 1. A picker stick comprising in combination, a metal body having a socket at each end and provided with a button hole slot, said slot adapted to receive suitable tastening means for connecting a check strap to the stick, a wooden liller in the socket at one end, said ller and the socket on which it is mounted having a hole therethrough to receive a stud, a wooden section re-` versibly and invertibly mounted in the other socket means to limit the inward movement of said wooden section, means to prevent the accidental displacement of said wooden section and a clamp adjustably mounted upon a metallic body, said clamp .adapted to connect the sweep stick to the picker stick.

2. As an article of manufacture, a metallic picker stick body comprising a tubular intermediate sect-ion, a socket at each end of rectangular torm in cross section, one of said sockets adapted to receive a wooden filler to strengthen such end of the body and provide an extended bearing surlare vfor a stud, another socket adapted to receive a reversible and invertiblo wooden section, said body having a button hole slot between the sockets for the reception oit 'fastening means tovadjustably connect a check strap thereto, and mea-ns at the inner or lower end of the last named socket to limit the inward movement of the wooden section.V

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto affixed my signature.

WALTER IVILKINSON. 

